Beer 47 » witbier

Caracole Troublette Review

David Jensen — Thu, 08 Dec 2011 06:00:52 +0000

Troublette is a flavorful yet refreshing Belgian-style witbier, or white ale, brewed by Brasserie Caracole in Falmignoul, near Dinant, Belgium. If you’re looking for an alternative to Hoegaarden, then Caracole Troublette will be a treat being much more interesting and just as refreshing with zesty notes and a balanced flavor.

Date Reviewed. October 6, 2011

Where I Found It. The Jug Shop, San Francisco.

Serving Type. 330ml bottle to glass.

Appearance. Troublette has a beautiful hazy golden yellow color with a white fizzy head. The head has very poor retention but does leave a touch of lacing.

Smell. At first, while the head was still on the beer, the aroma expressed fruity ester notes of fresh bananas and green apples. As the head died down and the beer warmed up, the green apple aroma dissipated revealing the more phenolic notes of lemon zest, coriander, and a touch of white pepper with a hint of cloves. The grain also more apparent with a slight aroma of baked bread and honey.

Taste. Troublette nicely expresses the wheat in the flavor of the beer further expressing the baked bread that is in the aroma. This beer is slightly sweet with very little bitterness. What bitterness there is expresses itself more like an herbal bitterness like white pepper.

Mouthfeel. This is a light to medium bodied beer with a wonderfully strong champagne-like effervescence on the tongue. Like many Belgian-made beers this is due to a thorough regimen of bottle conditioning.

Overall. Troublette is a refreshing, flavorful, and easy drinking examples of a Belgian-style witbier. Looks may be deceiving with this beer, despite the pale, unassuming color, it is a very flavorful beer.

Rating. My ratings below are on a five point scale with five being the best score.

Appearance (6%): 4.0
Smell (24%): 4.5
Taste (40%): 4.0
Mouthfeel (10%): 4.0
Overall (20%): 4.0
Total: 4.12

Information

Style: Belgian-style witbier
Brewery: Brasserie Caracole [more info]
Alcohol by volume: 5.0%
Malt: pilsner malt, raw unmalted wheat (source)
Hops: Styrian Goldings and Saaz
RateBeer rating: 84 overall, 94 style

Other Reviews

PEI Beer Guy – Caracole Troublette

Avery White Rascal Review

David Jensen — Sun, 05 Apr 2009 15:00:18 +0000

While visiting Southern California recently I met up with Ryan, a good friend of mine from college, and we headed to the Yard House in Pasadena, CA. If you are not familiar with the Yard House, it is a chain of bar and grill restaurants in Southern California where they have on the order of 100 different beers on tap. If you go, I suggest surveying the tap handles while you wait for your table. Upon leaving I discovered that there were a few offerings that were not listed on the menu.

One of the beers that I selected was Avery White Rascal from Avery Brewing out of Boulder, CO. Avery is a brewery that has been coming up in some of the beer reviews on other blogs and so I thought I would try some of their brew. White Rascal is a traditional Belgian style witbier brewed with two-row malt, Belgian wheat, Czech Saaz hops, corriander, and Curacao orange peel.

Avery Brewing provides the following description of White Rascal on their website:

A truly authentic Belgian style wheat or “white” ale, this Rascal is unfiltered (yup, that’s yeast on the bottom) and cleverly spiced with coriander and Curacao orange peel producing a refreshingly fruity thirst quencher.

Where I Found It. I found this beer on tap at the Yard House in Pasadena, CA.

Serving Type. This beer was served on-tap into a pint glass.

Appearance. White Rascal has a nice white frothy head that lingers in the form of a thin layer of foam on the top of your beer until the last drop. It is pale yellow-white in color and cloudy in appearance, both are attributes to be expected from a Belgian witbier.

Smell. The aroma of this beer has the expected Belgian yeast smell but it is slightly subdued and not overwhelming. The aroma has a smooth ripe banana smell and light accompaniment of cloves. It has a hint of citrus and and sweet grains.

Taste. White Rascal has a light grain-like sweetness that can be described as refreshing and not sugary. There is just the lightest hint of bitterness, with only 10 IBUs, and it is enough to balance the light maltiness in the beer. The orange peels come through with a some citrus flavor in the finish.

Mouthfeel. The mouthfeel is that of a light-bodied beer with just the right amount of carbonation. It was just a touch watery tasting and based on the final gravity I’m surprised it is not more watery tasting. The original gravity is listed as 1.050 and the alcohol content is 5.6% so, based on calculations, this makes the final gravity 1.007.

Drinkability. Just like many beers of this style, White Rascal is a very drinkable beer appropriate not only for warm weather but also for a slightly chilly evening. Although I prefer Flying Dog’s Woody Creek White, this beer comes in at a close second and I would drink it again and again.

Rating. My ratings below are on a five point scale with five being the best score.

Appearance (20%): 4.0
Smell (20%): 3.5
Taste (40%): 3.5
Mouthfeel (10%): 3.5
Drinkability (10%): 4.0
Overall: 3.65

Information

Style: Belgian witbier
Brewery: Avery Brewing
Alcohol by volume: 5.6%
Original Gravity: 1.050 (12.4 Plato)
Final Gravity: 1.007 (1.8 Plato)
Hops: Czech Saaz
Malt: two-row malt, Belgian wheat
Other ingredients: Curacao orange peel, coriander
Beer Advocate rating: 3.69 (as of April 5, 2009)

Other Reviews

Flying Dog Woody Creek White Review

David Jensen — Sun, 15 Feb 2009 19:00:05 +0000

For Super Bowl I was looking for a refreshing beer to accompany BBQ and a beer that friends would enjoy. I noticed that Flying Dog Woody Creek White was still on the shelves at a local market so I picked up a six pack.

I was first introduced to Flying Dog Brewery, a Colorado headquartered (and now with the brewery facilities in Maryland), in the late 90s when a college roommate introduced me to Flying Dog’s Old Scratch Amber Lager. I’ve thought very highly of all of their beers that I’ve tried since, including Woody Creek White.

Woody Creek White is a Belgian Wit style beer, also called witbier or bière blanche, which is a hazy wheat ale brewed with coriander and bitter orange peel. Flying Dog releases this refreshing beer as a summer seasonal but, although it is great during warm weather, I found that this beer is just as good in the middle of winter, while eating ribs and watching a football game.

Where I Found It. I picked up a 12oz bottle 6-pack at a Draeger’s Market in the San Francisco Bay Area.

Serving Type. When I sampled this brew, I poured it from a 12oz bottle into a pint glass.

Appearance. Woody Creek White has a cloudy yellow-orange color that looks like lemonade with a splash of orange juice. Another possible description of the appearance is like that of a light colored honey. The head is white and doesn’t last very long.

Smell. The bouquet has citrus, lemon, with a hint of orange and spice. The aroma has a hint of sweet unroasted grains. The smell is not bread-like.

Taste. The taste is crisp with light citrus, like lemon with a hint of coriander. It is sweet and refreshing with very little bitterness. There is just a hint of banana and coves, which is found in many Belgium beers and hefeweizens.

Mouthfeel. Woody Creek White is light bodied, crisp, and has no bitter aftertaste. With an original gravity of 1.047 and an alcohol content of 4.8%, then the final gravity is around 1.0125, which is indeed a light bodied beer.

Drinkability. This is a smooth witbier and it is easy to drink more than one of these in a single session. I’ll pick up another six-pack this summer.

Rating. My ratings below are on a five point scale with five being the best score.

Appearance (20%): 4.0
Smell (20%): 4.0
Taste (40%): 4.5
Mouthfeel (10%): 4.0
Drinkability (10%): 4.5
Overall: 4.25

Caption from the Bottle

Each bottle of Woody Creek White includes the following caption:

Flying Dog Brewery founder George Stranahan is widely considered to be the unofficial mayor of Woody Creek, Colorado. George and his collection of social misfits known as “Woody Creatures” are the reason this mountain community has morphed into Gonzo Ground Zero. This unfiltered and traditionally spiced Wit Beer pays tribute to this hotbed of progressive thought.

Information

Brewery: Flying Dog Brewery
Style: Belgian wit
Alcohol by volume: 4.8%
Original gravity: 1.047 (11.7 Plato)
Bitterness: 17 IBU
Hops: German Hallertau
Malts: Belgian Pilsner, wheat, oats, unmalted wheat, flaked wheat, flaked oats
Adjuncts: coriander and bitter orange peel
Beer Advocate rating: 3.77 (as of Feb. 14, 2009)
More information at Flying Dog